The cause of war is competing desires, ambitions, and goals. We all tend to seek the best for ourselves. When individuals, organizations, and nations cannot align they often go to war.

Peace almost always involves the surrender of rights. Peace seeks what is best for others. 

Sometimes war can be psychological, filled with feelings and emotions regarding how people are treated. Other times, war plays out as a specific contractual fight over rights, money, or property.  At its worst, war is physical and leads to bloodshed and the needless death of people. 

The world needs peace, and so do our coworkers, clients, and friends. Our workplace can be filled with conflict and resentment that is incredibly expensive to our business and to our souls. There’s a real advantage for individuals and organizations who are in the peacemaking business.

Those who follow Jesus have an even greater advantage in peacemaking, because they have been called to surrender their rights to the One who surrendered His rights for them.

There has never been a larger surrender of rights. Jesus Christ came to reconcile all things, making peace by the blood on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20). Jesus who was the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3) came to our planet. Taking on human form — Jesus surrendered all of His rights as God, and became obedient to death even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). 

Jesus calls and commissions His followers to make peace with an enormous promise! 

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” - [.no-reftag]Matthew 5:9[.no-reftag]

Called to Peace 

When the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 6:9) calls us to follow Him, He calls us to peace. Each one of us is at war with God until we accept His peace. There is no one who is neutral with Jesus Christ. We were hostile to God (Romans 8:7), yet He forgives sins, (Luke 7:48) calls us to follow Him, and bestows peace on us at the very same time (Luke 7:50). 

Our lives can be full of anxiety, fear, and conflict between people and nature but Jesus is always stepping in for us and commanding forces of evil and nature to be still — He even commands the wind and the sea (Mark 5:41)! 

He offered His peaceful presence on earth and He offers that peace to us now. 

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - [.no-reftag]John 14:27[.no-reftag]

Jesus wants His followers to know that the peace He offers them is not temporary — not like the world. He wants us to know that this peace is eternal and should give us great assurance and comfort in this life now. 

Commissioned for Peace

Jesus does not leave us with a peace that is neutral and removed from daily conflict. He actually commissions us to do the very same peacemaking —- reconciliation work He did. After the resurrection, He gives His followers the lasting gifts of peace, purpose, and power when He tells them — and us by extension of faith — that He is sending them to do the very same work. 

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”- [.no-reftag]John 20:21-22[.no-reftag] 

[.text-color-blue]Watch Receive the Gifts of Peace, Purpose, and Power[.text-color-blue]

Equipped for Peace at Work 

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in His sermon, Blessed are the Peacemakers gives us our 5 practical points on how we are to make peace. 

1. A peacemaker is not quarrelsome. A peacemaker is active and not concerned with the status quo. “Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, he is not concerned about maintaining the status quo. Actively, this person must be pacific, he must be one who makes peace actively. He desires peace, and does all they can to produce peace and to maintain it.” 

2. A peacemaker is neutral without biases and listens. “Before one can be a peacemaker one really must be entirely delivered from self, from self-interest, from self-concern. Before you can be a peacemaker you really must be entirely forgetful of self because as long as you are thinking about yourself, and shielding yourself, you cannot be doing the work properly. To be a peacemaker you must be, as it were, absolutely neutral so that you can bring the two sides together…Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath? That, I say, is one of the best ways of being a peacemaker, that you just learn not to speak.”

3. A peacemaker thinks positively – think upside – in the light of the Gospel with all humility. “When you face a situation that tends to lead to trouble, not only must you not speak, you must think. You must take the situation and put it into the context of the gospel and ask, What are the implications of this? What about the Cause? What about the Church? What about the Organization? What about all the people who are dependent? …You must now become positive and go out of your way to look for means and methods of making peace. You are becoming positive and active. It may mean sometimes that you, as we put it so foolishly, have to humble yourself and approach the other person. You have to take the initiative in speaking to him, perhaps apologizing to him, trying to be friendly, doing everything you can to produce peace.”

Jesus calls you to peace. Jesus commissions you — as a child of God — to make peace as your purpose on earth with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus equips you with everything you need to be a peacemaker. Let’s go and make peace! 

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Resources: 

Article: Start With the Heart | Howard Graham 

Article: Leaders Make Peace | Howard Graham

Article: Lead Conflict For Good | Howard Graham 

Article: The Five Reasons Wars Happen | West Point

Article The Means of War | Howard Graham 

Sermon: War and Peace | Tim Keller

Sermon: Prince of What Peace? | John Piper 

Sermon: Blessed are the Peacemakers | Dr. Maryn Lloyd-Jones

Video: Receive the Gifts of Peace, Purpose, and Power | Howard Graham 

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